I live in Pererenan, which is a small village near Echo Beach just west of Canggu. Every Melasti ceremony, there are thousands of Hindus coming from various villages to gather at Pererenan Beach for the Melasti ceremonies. I go for walks on this beach regularly. I can't say that the beach is normally particularly clean, but it's not all that bad. There are a few plastic bags, plastic cups and candy wrappers, cigarette boxes sparsely scattered along the beach. However the day after the Melatsti ceremonies, the beach was completely covered with plastic cups (you know those small plastic cups that you drink from with a straw), cigartte butts and candy wrappers. It looked awful, like a bomb went off in a garbage collectors plant. There's a small river that flows into the ocean and it too was covered with mainly plastic. It was a sad sight. Someone on the beach told me that the village organises a big cleanup the morning after Melasti, but when I returned around sunset, nothing was done. A few days later, the river was still full of plastic and lots of garbage must have been washed out to the open ocean.
Melasti is supposed to be a Purification ceremony. It's beautiful to watch and I love Bali and its culture and respect the Balinese Hindu traditions. It's one of the reasons why I live in Bali. I never get upset when I'm stuck in traffic because of a ceremony, I love the Hindu culture too much for that. However, I don't understand why the Balinese don't care more about mother nature in their own village/community.
Last week I had a friend visiting from Jogja. She has never been to Kuta Beach, so I took her there (I hardly ever go there myself). We walked from Tuban all the way to Oberoi. The beach was littered with trash. I saw tourist couples walking hand in hand along the beach trying not to step onto trash... Unbelieveable! Why isn't the Balinese government/Tourism Authority doing anything about it. It wouldn't cost all that much, considering all the millions of dollars in toursim tax flowing in, to hire a couple of hundred unemployed locals to do daily cleanups of the beaches. It would make a big difference. The Balinese Tourism Authority apparently isn't aware that the "competition" isn't sleeping (ie Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and now even Cambodia). Word of mouth is very powerful. What do you think those couples walking on the littered Kuta beach are going to tell their friends when their back home? :roll:
I know this subject has come up many times before, but I just think it's too important not to mention it again once in a while. I can't get myself to throw even the smallest candy wrapper onto the ground. Why? Because it was taught in my country at school and at home. It's normal. You don't litter, it's a bad thing to do. The sadest thing I saw during the Melasti ceremony is a father with three kids, two sons and a daugther. They were all drinking water and the kids were eating some sort of snack. I saw the dad thowing the plastic cup onto the beach right in front of the kids, then the kids later on threw the candy wrappers on the ground as well. Of course, if Daddy litters the beach, then it's okay to do that...
My question is just why, after so many years of talking about this subject, and some yayasans going to hundreds of village schools around Bali to educate the kids about the importance of taking care of the environment, isn't the message getting through? It sure is frustrating but I don't give up hope and do my part (I recyle, use biodegradable soaps, detergents and shampoo, use my mountain bike on short distance trips and try to educate the locals AND EXPATS what they can do to take care of the environment.)
Melasti is supposed to be a Purification ceremony. It's beautiful to watch and I love Bali and its culture and respect the Balinese Hindu traditions. It's one of the reasons why I live in Bali. I never get upset when I'm stuck in traffic because of a ceremony, I love the Hindu culture too much for that. However, I don't understand why the Balinese don't care more about mother nature in their own village/community.
Last week I had a friend visiting from Jogja. She has never been to Kuta Beach, so I took her there (I hardly ever go there myself). We walked from Tuban all the way to Oberoi. The beach was littered with trash. I saw tourist couples walking hand in hand along the beach trying not to step onto trash... Unbelieveable! Why isn't the Balinese government/Tourism Authority doing anything about it. It wouldn't cost all that much, considering all the millions of dollars in toursim tax flowing in, to hire a couple of hundred unemployed locals to do daily cleanups of the beaches. It would make a big difference. The Balinese Tourism Authority apparently isn't aware that the "competition" isn't sleeping (ie Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and now even Cambodia). Word of mouth is very powerful. What do you think those couples walking on the littered Kuta beach are going to tell their friends when their back home? :roll:
I know this subject has come up many times before, but I just think it's too important not to mention it again once in a while. I can't get myself to throw even the smallest candy wrapper onto the ground. Why? Because it was taught in my country at school and at home. It's normal. You don't litter, it's a bad thing to do. The sadest thing I saw during the Melasti ceremony is a father with three kids, two sons and a daugther. They were all drinking water and the kids were eating some sort of snack. I saw the dad thowing the plastic cup onto the beach right in front of the kids, then the kids later on threw the candy wrappers on the ground as well. Of course, if Daddy litters the beach, then it's okay to do that...
My question is just why, after so many years of talking about this subject, and some yayasans going to hundreds of village schools around Bali to educate the kids about the importance of taking care of the environment, isn't the message getting through? It sure is frustrating but I don't give up hope and do my part (I recyle, use biodegradable soaps, detergents and shampoo, use my mountain bike on short distance trips and try to educate the locals AND EXPATS what they can do to take care of the environment.)